Barry Bannan targets place at Villa
Wednesday 27th July 2011, 8:59AM BST.
Villa midfielder Barry Bannan is determined to build on his breakthrough season by nailing down a regular first-team placewhen the new campaign kicks off.
The 21-year-old earned rave reviews at the beginning of the last campaign after he was handed his chance by caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald and then Gerard Houllier.
But, as senior players returned to form and fitness, Bannan found himself restricted to occasional substitute appearances in the second-half of the season before going on loan to Leeds.
And the Scotland international is eager to feature as regularly as possible for Villa under manager Alex McLeish having got a feel for playing in the Premier League.
Bannan said: “The aim for me is hopefully to start games and to play more this season than I did last season.
“I want to be more of an important figure for the team and, hopefully, I can be one of the first names on the team-sheet come the end of the season.”
To read our stories in full, log in to the premium 24 website.
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
